My wife and i went camping up at Kenilworth for the weekend with a group of friends with our caravans. This was my 1st time to this township and the plan was to do some exploring through the neighboring national parks and some fishing in the Mary river.
Friday arvo we set up camp at Kenilworth Homstead on the grassy bank of the Mary river. There only time to have a few drinks and settle in but what a place to watch the sun go down.
Saturday morning I walked the Mary river flickng lures but had no luck then cooked up a mad breaky. The plan for the rest of the morning was to explore conondale national park doing some 4 wheel driving.
The entrance to the park was only 7km away and our 1st stop was at Charlie Moreland camp ground for a swim and look around for future trips. Then we doubled back and found boolumba creek road which changed from tar to dirt at the park boundary.
Here you cross the creek which was only 600mm deep then you pass the 1st of 4 camp grounds. After a 2nd creek crossing the forest changes and you start to here bell birds.
The track heads up the mountain on a very steep gradient for 2km till you reach the lookout. Looking down the from there you can see boolumba creek again and across to a fire tower on the next peak.
We travelled onwards till we reached the car park where you set off for boolumba falls and the bread knife rock formation. I had a swim at the falls which were still running even in this drought.
The call was made to head back to town for lunch and the bakery was just the perfect stop. Famous for its 1kg cream doughnut I just had a very tasty pie as I needed room for a few cold beers. We also visited the cheese factory and picked up some tasty cheese and yogurts.
The afternoon plan was to have a fish in the river and while most of our group fished the bank I paddled up river on the yak. Flicking lures at all the likely looking spots I saw a few rises then bam I am on. The rod buckled and the fish jumped you beauty I was connected to a Saratoga the 1st for me in nearly 30 years.
I have only targeted them a couple of times at lake booromba the last couple of years. The fish after a good fight was next to the kayak and I slid the net under it and paddled to shore to dehook him. A quick photo and release had him swim off strong.
I paddled the yak further upstream and found a dozen bass in less than a meter of water very cool to see. No more fish was caught by sunset and dinner and drinks was calling. The night went by quick and I slept well before having another fish early the next morning.
Had a bass follow the lure right up to the yak but that and a few bumps later was all I could encounter. Breakfast and pack up camp followed before a good cruise of just under 2 hours home. Definitely going back to this area again in the future plenty more to explore.
